Confusion
by MarzBunni
Summary: Something was wrong with each of them, but what was the cause? Why had they been made this way? Surely there had to be a way to fix them... right?


Hullo everyone~. Please don't abandon this fic over the OOC. It is entirely intentional and is a major plot point. I have this planned out, so I don't think I'll forget about it the way I have most of my stories…

Trowa woke immediately when his alarm went off. It blared incredibly loud, as was usual, especially this early in the morning. He checked the time before rolling out of bed. It was 5:45. Why had he wanted to wake up so early today?

It was… the first day of school, according to his calendar. It was lucky he'd remembered to cross off the previous day. Now to get dressed. He quickly pulled on a new outfit, and went to go get breakfast. He was distracted for a moment, what was that moving in the pre-dawn shadows? He paused, studying the movement more closely. It was just one of his cats. He petted it, and then began making breakfast.

Making breakfast took a long time, it seemed. By the time he had finished the last piece of toast, the sun had been up for a while. Trowa wondered exactly how long it had been, and went back to his bedroom to get something.

"What are you doing, Trowa?" His sister, Cathy, asked, somewhat loudly for this early in the morning. "You're going to be late for school! It's almost seven!"

"It is?" he wondered.

"Yes! Hurry up and get to your bus stop!"

Trowa grabbed his backpack and jogged to the bus stop, then paused to wait. After an indeterminate period of time, another boy ran up to the bus stop, screeching to a halt and panting heavily. Trowa glanced over nonchalantly.

"Hello." he said.

The new arrival looked up at Trowa and replied. "Hi!" he said, stopping to catch his breath. "Who're you? Did you just move here?"

"I'm Trowa. I did just move here."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Fred."

Trowa gave no response, turning back to face the street and responding only in grunts and half-words to every conversation starter Fred tried.

Eventually the bus came. The boys got on and went to school.

Duo groaned. He hated Mondays, but the first day of school was always particularly difficult. It was much, much too early to be awake. Why did school torment him by existing before noon? He yawned impolitely, causing his history teacher to shoot him a glare. Why did everyone have to introduce themselves in every class? There never seemed to be any results from the teachers' unified efforts to get the students to socialize outside of their regular cliques.

Whatever. Duo thought that maybe he should try and figure out when his friends had lunch, but… that sounded like effort. Not moving was easier. And what if his friends had already found new buddies and didn't want to sit with him at lunch? Not that it mattered. In the end, everyone was just trapped inside their own skulls, so there was no real point in interacting with others.

Wufei nervously faced his opponents. They outnumbered him three to one, and he wondered why they had brought extra force this time. Usually they only came one at a time.

"H-hey there." he greeted them, hoping for some sort of sign that all would soon be well.

"Hey there, Chang." one greeted "We're just here to make sure our usual deal is set. You haven't had a change of heart over the summer, have you?"

"No." He answered the boy, honestly.

"Good." the boy on the left kicked him. "We'll be expecting the typical contribution to our funds then."

Wufei reached into his bag, pulled out some money, and passed it to the leader of his assailants.

"Great, Chang!" the other two each kicked him "See you tomorrow, spineless." cackled one, as they walked off.

Wufei got up and went to eat lunch. This year seemed typical. Good. He didn't particularly enjoy surprises. Tomorrow he should wear thinner clothing. It was a little hot today.

Heero was happy. It was hard for him to resist the urge to bounce. He loved the first day of school the most, or at least he did right now. He scarfed down his food, chattering at a couple of other students who were sitting nearby. It was so easy to be excited on days like this. Maybe later he'd go to the park and run around a bit, he'd never be able to do his homework otherwise.

Quatre sighed in relief. School was over at last. Now he could stop being so bored. Being bored was almost painful, sometimes. As he was hurrying out of the building, he noticed some people staring at him. He smiled at them politely, even waving as he passed. A couple of the girls in the group giggled.

Exiting the school doors, Quatre walked over to the bike rack. He noticed, as he walked, an anthill the hard-working little ants seemed determined to scurry in and out of the entrance to their home as fast as they could. He smiled genuinely at the sight. He continued smiling, even as he noticed that he had accidentally crushed one.

"Oops." he said.

He unlocked his bike and proceeded home.

Trowa woke immediately when his alarm went off. It blared incredibly loud, as was usual, especially this early in the morning. He checked the time before rolling out of bed. It was 5:45. Why had he wanted to wake up so early today?

It was… the first day of school, according to his calendar. It was lucky he'd remembered to cross off the previous day. Now to get dressed. He quickly pulled on a new outfit, and went to go get breakfast. He was distracted for a moment, what was that moving in the pre-dawn shadows? He paused, studying the movement more closely. It was just one of his cats. He petted it, and then began making breakfast.

Making breakfast took a long time, it seemed. By the time he had finished the last piece of toast, the sun had been up for a while. Trowa wondered exactly how long it had been, and went back to his bedroom to get something.

Something felt subtly wrong about what he was doing. He glanced over at Cathy's bedroom door. He was missing something.

He walked into his room and checked the time. It was six-thirty. He grabbed his backpack and took it with him to the living room to watch television for the next half hour, until it was time to go.

He left the house to go to his bus stop at seven. A boy was waiting there.

"Hello Trowa!" the boy greeted excitedly.

"Hello." he answered, wondering slightly how this boy knew his name. He decided not to say anything as the bus pulled up.

Duo gnawed on his bottom lip. It hurt a bit, but it hurt the way lips were supposed to do when you bit them. He tapped his fingers, uncaring of the annoyed glances he was receiving from the girl sitting to his left. Maybe he'd do his homework today, his friends were all going to be busy after school. He hadn't been told, but he knew they'd tell him that they were, there was no point in asking them. He wondered if his friends would be around at lunch today, they were there yesterday, but everything was ephemeral.

Wufei was sad. One of the boys had taken the book he was reading and torn it up. How would he explain that to his parents? His father had bought that book for him. Maybe there was a way to glue it back together… He could hide the pages with footprints, and maybe later he could actually reconstruct the book and finish reading it. It was a good book.

Heero was feeling somewhat down today. He didn't really know why. He wasn't upset at anything; he was just… feeling a little melancholy. He much preferred being happy. He ate lunch, talking to someone, rambling, really. He was having fun, though not as much as he had been the day before.

Quatre frowned to himself. He walked to the exit, grinning and replying to everyone who greeted him. The simpering was louder than it was the day before. He almost slammed the door as he exited, but thought better of it at the last moment. He hated being bored.

He went to the bike rack, noticing the anthill as he passed. He paused, crushing a few ants. His bike had something on it. Was that… mud? His bike shouldn't have mud on it. His bike was supposed to be clean. He knocked over all of the other bikes, making sure to kick the one next to his hard enough to scuff its pristine red paint.

He went home, then.

Trowa got home and marked the day off of his calender. The first day was always the hardest; he could set his alarm clock for a little later the next day. Now that he'd made the first step in a new routine, he'd be fine.

He was late to school the next day. He missed the bus. As his first teacher of the day was particularly strict, he received a detention, to be served by Friday.

Quatre was particularly aggravated today. Maybe he should bring something new to do to school tomorrow. Being bored was… upsetting. He pleasantly greeted the girls who stopped him on his way to class. They were annoying, but at least they occupied him for a moment.

At the end of the day, on his way to the exit, a girl almost talked to him, but she was distracted for a moment, and he managed to make it out the exit without noticing her.

He looked at the anthill by the bike rack. He deliberately lifted his foot and stomped on it, grinding his foot into the dust. He smiled pleasantly, and biked home.

The next day, a particularly bleary Thursday, one girl managed to intercept Quatre on his way out the door at the end of the day.

"Quatre!" she called.

He turned and smiled at her. "Yes?"

"W-well…" she muttered. "I just wanted to tell you, um… that I-I really, really…"

Quatre continued smiling at her, polite as ever. The girl glanced up at him, and gathered strength from that.

"I like you a lot!" she spat out all at once "Please be my boyfriend!"

Quatre blinked at that, but his smile did not falter.

"No. I'd really prefer not to."

"What?" the girl asked, shocked that he had replied so swiftly.

"I said that I don't want to date you."

The girl began to feel rather small, moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes. Perhaps her friends had been wrong about the way he smiled at her.

"Can I ask why?" she whispered.

"Well," Quatre replied, teeth still glinting, "You are dirt. You must understand that, right? Dating you would be like dating a mangy dog, except with more annoying noise. I don't see any reason to sully myself with someone as filthy as you. After all, I could do better with a whore."

The girl was crying by this point, wondering what had made her idol so callous to her. She reached up and slapped him, the loud sound of it echoing down the hallway just as a teacher walked around a corner into the hallway.

A smirk flashed across Quatre's face, quickly disappearing as the teacher rushed down the hallway towards them.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

Later, after explanations had been given, the girl was let go with a warning, and Quatre was given a detention. Neither student had fully elaborated on the story, leaving the teacher to send Quatre sympathetic glances, as though trying to convey that he knew how it felt to be on the wrong end of a girlfriend's mood swings. Quatre left the building, continuing to smile.

Remember, the OOC is deliberate. Please don't flame me about that until the story advances a little bit further.


End file.
